STRUCTURE: In Like a Lion: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Hi Meg,

 This chapter makes me want to talk a little bit about the structure of a chapter. As writers we are all aware of the structure, or arc of a story. There is rising tension, a climax, and at the end, a resolution. As this chapter demonstrates, a chapter should have an arc that mirrors the arc of the story. We open with Junior's admission, "I never guessed I'd be a good basketball player." It turns out that he is not just a good basketball player. As the chapter unfolds he comes to realize that his confidence has turned him into a basketball force to be reckoned with. "I was the hired gunfighter."

Tension mounts when Junior's team, with their record of 12 wins and one loss, to Wellpinit, are faced with a rematch against Rowdy's team, which is undefeated. Junior wants nothing more than to win this game. Alexie keeps the tension rising as Junior is interviewed before the game and he says, "I feel this is the most important night of my life . . . I have something to prove to the people in Reardan, the people in Wellpinit, and to myself."

Tension continues to rise as the game begins, and the reader is wondering, will he do it? Will he win?

We reach a climax in emotion and action as the gym explodes with emotion and noise, and Junior has led his team to a victory. Then, the emotional arc goes up a notch, when Junior is confronted with the devastation of his opponents, and the reality of just how painful this is for the Wellpinit team. "I was suddenly ashamed that I'd wanted so badly to take revenge on them." Junior weeps like a baby--tears of shame that he has broken his best friend's heart.

Upon reaching the climax, the story drops in action and emotion, as Junior describes the aftermath of that victory. He had a goal, he acheived it, and the price was high. A complete story in one chapter, with an arc all its own.

Story Sleuths Tip # 17: Make sure that, like the entire story, each chapter has an arc.

WISDOM: Valentine Heart: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Hi Allyson,

This chapter starts off with a violent disconnect--in one sentence, Junior reports that he gave Penelope a valentine and that Eugene, his dad's best friend, was shot in the face. It's a dichotomy that reflects the chaos of Junior's world. In the next sentence we learn that Eugene died. Two pages later there's another death--Bobby's suicide in jail. That makes three, with Junior's grandmother being the first. And now Junior shows readers how he survives the grief. His resources are his community of friends, who walk out when his teacher judges him unsympathetically, and his own creative spirit. When he decided to list the things in his life that give him joy, or gave him joy, he not only reveals his internal strength, but he shows readers a way of dealing with their own loss and grief: focus on the joy. It's a gift that Alexie gives his readers, through his character.


Story Sleuths' Tip #16: Share wisdom with your readers--offer them new strategies for learning from challenges in their own lives.


Over to you, Allyson.

Meg

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT, ACTION: And a Partridge in a Pear Tree, Red Versus White and Wake: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian.

Hi Meg -


There is something I’ve noticed again and again in this book, which I am reminded of in this poignant little chapter, And a Partridge in a Pear Tree. It has to do with the fine line writers for children must walk when defining their character’s sensibilities.


Although this story is largely autobiographical, Sherman Alexie, at the SCBWI International Conference in LA this year, commented that the character Junior is nothing like Alexie really was at that age. Junior reflects a level of sensibility, maturity and confidence that Alexie didn’t achieve until much later in life. On page 151 Junior says of his father’s boot, “that thing smelled like booze and fear and failure.” Does that reflect how a fourteen-year-old rez kid would see or describe the world? Would he say that a boot smells of fear? Of failure? No. It is how a grown-up Sherman Alexie would describe such things.


But is that a problem? No, and here is why. Consistency. The character is perhaps a little too mature, a little too self-aware for someone in his circumstances, but he is unswervingly so, and as a result, I buy that it is simply who he is.


Storysleuths Tip # 14: Be consistent with your characters maturity level and sensibility and you can get away with a lot


At this year’s SCBWI conference in L.A. Jordan Brown, editor at Walden Pond Press spoke about the function of scenes. He said, “every scene should have something no one is expecting to happen because that is what propels a story forward.” These chapters, Red Versus White and Wake, bear the shocking news that Junior’s grandmother has been killed by a drunk driver, and describe the way that all who loved her dealt with her death. I didn’t see it coming. On page 154 when Junior begins speaking of his grandmother in past tense, “And do you want to know what the very best thing was about Wellpinit? My grandmother,” I found it a little odd that the author suddenly switched perspectives and was looking back over the distance of time. Then, on page 155, six pages into the chapter he very matter-of-factly reveals that she’d been struck and killed by a drunk driver. Wow.


Story Sleuths Tip # 15: Introduce the unexpected to propel a scene forward.

-- Allyson

ALLUSIONS & CULTURAL REFERENCES Don't Trust Your Computer, My Sister Sends Me a Letter, & Reindeer Games

Hi Allyson,

I've been noticing, too, how Alexie slips bits of wisdom into the story. Consider these, all from a previous chapter, "Slouching Towards Thanksgiving":

• "You have to read a book three times before you know it." (p. 94)
• "The world, even the smallest parts of it, is filled with things you don't know." (p. 97)
• "He made me realize that hard work--that the act of finishing, of completing, of accomplishing a task--is joyous." (p. 98)

Truths like these always startle me in a way I like, and make me feel that I'm getting extra value from the characters in the story.


The title of the next long chapter, "Reindeer Games," includes an allusion to contemporary culture that all of the readers would be familiar with. It sets readers up to expect that Junior, like Rudolf, wouldn't be allowed to play (on the team). But eventually, like Rudolf, Junior winds up leading the team--"Coach said I was the best shooter who ever played for him."


Then, when Junior is knocked out by Rowdy and hospitalized, Coach comes into his room after Junior wakes up and shares his wisdom, which is the wisdom of a legendary football coach. But it's not the Vince Lombardi quote Junior knows that Coach shares--it's a new one to Junior: "The quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to excellence, regardless of his chosen field of endeavor." The quotation has the ring of authenticity because it was said by a real person, one who the reader, as well as Junior, is aware of, one who has won recognition in his field.


Story Sleuths tip #13: Literary and cultural allusions, and references to familiar and famous people, can give authenticity and depth to your characters and your story.


Over to you, Allyson.
Meg

SECONDARY CHARACTERS and WISDOM: Rowdy Gives Me Advice About Love and Dance, Dance, Dance: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Rowdy Gives Me Advice is just two pages long, but it reminds me of a point I would like to make about secondary characters, as these two pages feature Rowdy and Gordy, two significant secondary characters. Author Ellen Jackson says this on her website:

“When you write a book, you’re inviting your readers to spend hours with your characters. Most children don’t want to spend those hours with plain, ordinary people--the ones they see every day at the park, at school, at the mall. They want to meet characters–characters in the sense of different, special, interesting people. When thinking about your secondary characters, think quirky.”

Meg, I ask you this -- do characters get quirkier than Rowdy and Gordy??

Story Sleuths Tip 11: To quote Ellen Jackson, “When thinking about your secondary characters, think quirky.”

And now, for Dance, Dance, Dance: At a retreat a few years ago the AMAZING, but now retired Philomel editor Patricia Lee Gauch spoke about the importance of adding lines of wisdom to your text. Just little zingers here and there; one liners about truths your readers can relate to. Consider these:

• “Lies have short lives.” (119)
• “But things changed. As things always change.” (123) 
• “If you let people into your life a little bit, they can be pretty damn amazing.” (129)

Story Sleuths Tip #12: Sprinkle your text with tidbits of wisdom.

DEVELOPING CHARACTERS My Sister Sends Me an E-mail, Thanksgiving, and Hunger Pains: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Hi Allyson,

I've been wondering how Alexie gets me to care so much, as a reader, about his characters. I think he's brilliant at using a wide variety of ways to develop the characters, and their relationships with one another, so that I'm continually surprised. These three chapters develop Junior's relationships with three different characters in three different ways.

This is the first time Alexie has shown us a character from a point of view different from Junior's. In "My Sister Sends Me an E-mail," we see Mary through her own eyes, or rather, through her own words, as she sends Junior an e-mail about her life in Montana. It's a place he has never been, her "dream come true." And because readers aren't shown, or told, Junior's response to the e-mail, we can leap into the pages of the book, right into Junior's shoes, and read the e-mail as if we were him. I wondered: would he have felt the same foreboding I felt in her jubilant: "I love my life! I love my husband! I love Montana!"?

In "Thanksgiving," we see the changing relationship between Rowdy and Junior through action--no words are exchanged between them. When Junior looks up at Rowdy's window, Rowdy gives him the finger, but he is also holding Junior's cartoon, which indicates to Junior that "maybe he still respected me a little bit."

And in "Hunger Pains," Alexie shows us the developing relationship between Penelope and Rowdy by using only dialogue--they don't see one another as they talk through the girls' bathroom door. Junior isn't even aware that it is Penelope he is addressing until she emerges.

There are so many ways to portray characters and their relationships to one another. Engaging readers by using a wide variety of these strategies holds readers' attention and draws readers closer to all of the characters.

Story Sleuths' tip #10: Use different approaches--such as another point of view, action without words, and dialogue devoid of action--to develop characters and explore the relationships between them.

Over to you, Allyson.

Meg

SLOUCHING TOWARD THANKSGIVING: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Hi Meg -

Elana Roth from the Caren Johnson Literary Agency spoke recently at our SCBWI meeting, and she said this about pacing: “There must always be something next to keep the action going.” In this chapter Alexie sows the seed for a possible friendship with Gordy. When Junior gets home, there is a “something next”—in this case he learns that his sister is getting married. Then there is “something next”—it is the following day in school and Junior actively pursues and begins to develop the friendship foreshadowed several pages earlier. The final “something next” comes at the end of the chapter when we learn that in the end, the friendship was a successful one: “and he certainly helped me through school. He not only tutored me and challenged me, but he made me realize that hard work…is joyous.”

Story Sleuths Tip #9: Promise your readers “something next” to keep the action going.

-- Allyson